Digimon Dark Journey v2
by Corim
Summary: The story of what happens when you don't successfully save the digital world... you just prolong the decay and destruction for about 5-15  years our time.  The first digidestined have called the kids of adventure 02, tamers, frontier, ans savers for help.
1. Arrival 02 It Begins

Digimon dark journey v2

The Story of this story is derived from the revelation of episode 53 of adventure that there were 5 previous Digidestined.

I dedicate it to all the fans, the cast and crew and writers and directors, and the characters of Digimon Adventure, and the entire digimon series.

/Start

The kid was sitting on a tree limb in a dark, mist filled forest, trying to decide how soon his patience was going to run out. His part was on another branch, also waiting. Finally, his watch beeped. "Leo? We're ready to go. They should be there in a moment."

He, Leo, let out a sigh. "Finally. We're still in position, ready to go. See ya soon Zach. Stay safe."

Zach chuckled. "I'm the one who needs to worry. You lot are in far more danger. Everybody online still?"

3 more clicks came through, and 3 more voices sounded. "Morgan here, ready." "Chris here, I'm good to go." "It's still me, I'm still here, let us commence."

"Then Here. We. Go!"

Elsewhere, in another world entirely

It had been nearly 2 years since the defeat of MaloMyotismon. Things had been relatively peaceful. The second generation of Digidestined were entering high school, while the older generation were in college or almost finished with high school.

At that moment Ken was helping a freaked out Yolei study for the entrance exams to one of the most prestigious high schools in the area. Even without the Dark Spore, Ken had discovered he could still excel in school with enough effort. That effort was now helping Yolei score a "not date" with him, to help her study. However, just as Hawkmon returned with snacks, the D3s began to emit an extremely bright light. As Ken and Yolei pulled their D3s from their pockets, they felt themselves being sucked into a portal to the digital world.

Across town, Cody was on his way the dojo for Kendo practice when his own D3 went off. He pulled it out, only for the computer in a nearby window display to draw him into the onscreen portal before he could utter the mealiest protest, Armadillomon coming along right behind him.

Davis was staring at his jumbled notes, trying to figure out his sales for the day. He was now an apprentice noodlecart operator, rather than going into High School. He saw his D3 suddenly start glowing, and grabbed it. He and Veemon were sucked into the portal on his boss's computer.

Lastly, T.K. and Kari were at T.K.'s house. He was reading to her the latest draft of his first book about their adventures in the digital world, to "see if he missed anything." Gatomon, sitting atop the couch, winked at Patamon mischievously. Before anything else could happen, however, the 4 friends were dragged by their D3s through the portal on T.K.'s computer.

The Adventure begins again!

Chapter 1 "Arrival"

Davis sat up groggily. Veemon was still out cold next to him. That surprised him, because he'd never been knocked out on arrival to the digital world before. He looked around, trying to figure out if he'd come out anywhere he recognized. No such luck. He couldn't recall anywhere so dark and gloomy, and full of mist, with no sunlight at all. Wherever it was, he didn't like it.

"Hey, veemon, buddy, wake up." He shook Veemon lightly. When that didn't work, he bopped him on the head. "WAKE UP!" Veemon shot awake.

"Davis, what's wrong? Are we under attack? What happened, where are we?" He looked around, tensed.

"No idea buddy. Let's go look around." However, before they could really go anywhere, there was a scream, followed shortly be a series of irregular explosions that kept going. "That sounded like Yolei! Let's go Veemon!" The two charged towards the source of the explosions.

It did not take them long to arrive. They found Hawkmon and Yolei, as well as an unfamiliar human and digimon fighting off a horde of dark shadowing creatures. Actually, Hawkmon was down for the count, it was just the one digimon fighting. "Veemon, get in there! Digivolve!"

"Veemon, Digivolve to… Veemon. What? Why can't I Digivolve?"

Having just punched out one of the shadow things, the other kid shouted, "Use an Egg!"

"Oh right! Veemon, GO!"

"Veemon, Armor Digivolve to… Flamedramon!" Flamedramon immediately rocketed into the fight with a "Fight Rocket!" bowling over two shadows in the process.

"Help me and Blazermon open a path! We need to go that way!" the kid pointed off in a direction that to Davis seemed random, but he didn't waste time arguing.

"Veemon, you heard him! I'll help Yolei; get us a path out of here!" He charged over to Yolei to help her to her feet. She was staring numbly at an unconscious Hawkmon. She was bent over his body, and she wasn't moving. Davis reached her and grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Yolei! Come on! We gotta move!"

Yolei blinked, confused for a second, until Davis shook her again. "Snap out of it! We've gotta get out of here. Hold onto Hawkmon and follow me!"

"Davis? What's going on, Hawkmon… Hawkmon!" she cried, looking down at the body clutch in her arms.

"He'll be fine if we get out of here! Follow me!" He pulled her to her feet and started running, holding onto her arm. It took her a moment, but, clutching Hawkmon tightly to her chest, she was soon running behind him.

Flamedramon, meanwhile, was blasting away at the shadow creatures alongside the unknown digimon. The other kid, teenager really, was kicking and punching and generally being very effective… for a human. He was just ahead of them, his red hair standing out in the dark mist, green eyes flashing. Soon, the 3 of them were no longer surrounded.

"Alright, quick, over here," he said as he motioned them towards him. He was standing next to a large tree. As soon as they reached them, he continued. "On 3, I need Flamedramon to give his biggest attack to the pack of Dark Servants. Blazermon will do the same. Ready?"

"Sure, but?"

"1, 2, 3!" Flamedramon and Blazermon both attacked at full power, and a huge explosion of flames appeared. The guy grabbed Yolei and Davis and dived into the tree. Amazingly, instead of smashing his head on it as Davis expected, he passed through it into a hollow chamber. Veemon and Blazermon followed moments after.

Everyone took a moment to catch their breath. Then Davis asked the pertinent question of the hour. "Who are you?"

Of course, Hawkmon chose that moment to wake up, neatly circumventing the need for an answer. "Oh, oh my. Where am I? What's happened? I had the most terrible dream."

"Hawkmon!" Yolei hugged Hawkmon tightly and blinked back tears while smiling. "I was so worried!"

Hawkmon felt she was hugging him too tightly, as it took him several moments to convey that he could not breathe. She released him quickly, saying, "Sorry, sorry. I was just so worried, and I felt this… creeping despair. I don't know where it came from. I thought you'd never wake up again."

"That is the effect the Dark Area has on humans. Digimon are affected much the same. It enhances negative emotions: despair, hatred, anger, apathy. Each leads to destruction here. It is not a kind place you have been brought to, and I apologize for the necessity." The teenager said to the both of them, as he sat with his back to the wall of the hollow tree."

"Necessity? Why are we here? Did you bring us here? And again, who are you?" Davis asked, turning to look at him. Veemon stepped up next to him, and echoed his questions.

"My name is Zhang Leo. I am deeply sorry that you had to be summoned, and that Hawkmon was hurt, but the worlds are in danger, and we are in need of your help." He bowed, forehead to the ground. He looked up again, and continued. "This is the Dark Area. The digital world's version of hell, or perhaps the afterlife. Digimon that die and are not reborn come here, if they go anywhere. Digimon that are purely evil come here when they are defeated. It is a dark place, and dangerous. Almost everything will try to kill you. Half the food is inedible or poisonous, and hardly any of it tastes good. Most of what tastes good is poisoned. The good news is that the water is almost always clean, if you boil it."

Yolei blinked. "I think that was too much at once. But… why are we here again?"

Leo slapped his forehead and laughed heartily. It seemed to lift the mood. It was, however, Blazermon who answered. "You are here to save the Digital world and the Real world, all of them. There are many. They are connected by various fragments of the Dark Area. Once, this place was broken, and barriers existed to keep it that way. Now, the barriers are gone and the Dark Area wishes to be whole once more. It is drawing its pieces together, and those pieces are dragging the various digital worlds after them. The pieces might fit together, but the digital worlds will not fit together. And so they will collide, and break, and crumble. This in turn will cause great destruction in the real world. It is probable the real and digital worlds will survive. They will not do so intact, and much life will be lost. At which point Barbamon, Lucemon, and the other Great Demon Lords will unleash all their power and all their forces upon the worlds, until they rule them all."

Davis and Yolei looked at Blazermon, and for the first time, realized he looked like Flamedramon, save that where Flamedramon was blue, Blazermon was black, and Blazermon had more blade spikes covering him. However, as they tried to process this on top of all else they had been told, their eyes began to spin. It took them some time to snap out of it, but they did. Leo waited patiently for them to finish attempting to process what they had been told.

"So," Yolei started after a moment. "Is it just us?"

"No." Leo stated. "Something went wrong with the summoning process. You all came out at different locations and none of you were together. I found you, Yolei, immediately. You found me, Davis, when Hawkmon was attacked and she screamed." He looked at each of them as he spoke to them. "I do not know where the others are, but my allies will find them. Of that, I am sure. We move at dawn. I suggest you get some sleep, and please don't go outside. We won't be found in here if we don't give ourselves away, so we're safe for now."

After further, discussions between the two of them, ranging from "Are you sure we can trust this guy?" to "What the hell is going on here," all the way to "Do we have a choice," "That's why we can't just take his word," and on to "Where are the others, are they all right?" In the end, they settled down and fell asleep.

Leo woke them up next morning. "Rise and Shine you two, it's time to get moving. Dark Servants don't like the sun, so we'll be moderately safer now than at night."

Davis looked around as they exited the hiding place. "How do you know it's morning, I can't tell the difference."

"When you've been here for a couple of years, you'll start to recognize the signs. Come on, we've got some distance to travel." He led them through mist filled shadowy woods, past rocks, over streams, and on and on. Now and again, they would stop and hide in the shadows. Blazermon was nowhere to be seen most of the time. Yolei realized his fiery presence would give them away, and he must be travelling differently somehow. When Davis inevitably raised the question, she explained before Leo could, and told him to stay quiet.

After what seemed like hours Leo stopped at a pair of trees that stood like sentries. "We have arrived. Through here please." Instead of going to the pair of trees, he stepped to their left and held out his wrist. The watch upon it glowed, and Davis realized it was a digivice, not a watch. Though it probably also told the time.

Leo stepped through a doorway and waved at someone. Davis blinked. It was Mummymon. And Kari was there.

"Veemon, it's Mummymon! Quick!"

However, before Davis could do more than reach for his Digivice, Leo was holding his arm. "He's not an enemy. Not anymore."

"Yoohoo, Human boy! It's been a long time, hasn't it? Did you miss me?" He cackled happily.

"What's going on here?" Yolei asked. "Last time we saw him, he was an enemy! Why are you saying he's not?"

"Because I want out of here, and I want to be a free digimon when I do it. I won't get that without helping you lot. Besides, you always win!"

"Well, you can't argue with that!" said Davis, laughing, as he walked into the clearing. The sun was shining here, when it was not elsewhere. "Glad we don't have to fight you." The sudden change in attitude did not go unnoticed by those assembled.

Leo addressed Mummymon, asking about the others. As Davis walked closer he saw that Cody was also there, apparently sleeping in the sun.

"So Blackagumon hasn't come back yet?" Leo asked.

"Nope. Seems to be taking his time," replied Mummymon.

Leo frowned. "Will you 4 be alright here?" he asked, turning to the assembled Digi-destined. "I need to retrieve the last 2 of you … and Vajramom. We're stretched too thin damnit," he muttered. Then he turned to the 4 assmelbed. "Stay here, please. And be warned, the Dark Area will affect you the same as the control spires once did. And the threats here are generally far more dangerous than what you have previously faced. Stay here. You cannot be found in this clearing, save by those who already know where it is."

Leo left them in the clearing with Mummymon, who was seated against a tree. He was already snoring. Kari, Davis, and Yolei sat in a semi-circle, watching Mummymon. Kari explained how Mummymon found the two of them yesterday.

"All I knew was that this was just like that horrible Dark Ocean. The same strange creatures came as before, when T.K. found me there. I don't think I told you this story." She began then by slowly, haltingly at first, then stronger, that strange and evil day. Cody woke up halfway through, and Yolei promised to fill him in. Finally, they returned to recounting what happened when they arrived.

"I found Cody under attack. Gatomon couldn't Digivolve, so I used an Egg. Nefertimon and Digmon couldn't hold them back. That's when Mummymon appeared. We gave him a chance. I guess we're still giving him one." All three turned and looked at Mummymon.

Without opening his eyes, he said, "I can hear you, you know. I won't say I'm sorry for what happened last time, but now that I've seen this place, I know… I want no part of it. I've lost my Arukenimon, I've lost my creator, and I've lost everything. You are my chance to get it all back. I'm taking that chance." Suddenly, he opened his eyes and smiled broadly. "Besides, I'm part of the prophecy. You're stuck with me."

"Prophecy?" echoed the other three.

"Yes indeed. And that's all you get for now. The plan is to give you all the full rundown together. I don't like explaining things a bunch of times."

Yolei piped up. "Yeah, but, won't it be Leo explaining things?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I suppose so. Well, I may be on your side, but you all still annoy me, so I'm not saying." Mummymon grew quiet again. It seemed he still felt lingering antagonism towards the Digi-destined. At least, if he really was on their side then it was just lingering antagonism.

Things were quiet, as the 4 digi-destined and their partners spent the day looking around the clearing and waiting. Suddenly, their D3s started to beep. There were 3 digivices heading their way.

Soon, they came into view beyond the clearing. Leo opened the doorway and led them all through. They were dirty, but apparently unharmed. Yolei tackled Ken as soon as he was inside. T.K. hugged Kari tightly. As soon as the reunion was over, they turned to see Leo standing halfway across the clearing, with 5 Digimon at his back. In addition to Mummymon and Blazermon, there was a BlackAgumon. There was also bull based centaur Digimon with a pair of huge swords strapped to his side.

"So, what's this all about?" T.K started, the other Digidestined at his back.

"My Name is Zhang Leo. I am one of the original 6 digidestined. My partner is Blazermon." Blazermon bowed to the assembled. "I believe you all know this one," and here he pointed to Mummymon. "This is Blackagumon. This is Vajramon. I will let them tell their own stories."

Mummymon began, saying much the same as he had said to Kari, Yolei, Davis, and Cody. He was interrupted near the end by Vajramon. "Really though, The reason he didn't join one of the Demon Lords is that He was too weak for their consideration. He'd been defeated too many times by you humans and your digital pets."

Mummymon opened his mouth to speak, but the Blackagumon beat him to it. "Perhaps… but you lost… to humans too… didn't you? They killed you… but he always escaped them." His voice had a strange echo to it, and came haltingly, but was still comprehendible. Vajramon snorted. "I… am the Agumon… you met so… long ago… Kari. I… am also… Blackwargreymon… part of him… I was incomplete… damage… I absorbed his data… to retain my sense of … self."

"What? But how is that possible?" questioned Yolei incredulously. Kari looked at Blackagumon deeply, trying to decide if he was speaking the truth. Somehow, seeing this seemed to hurt her inside.

Leo briefly interrupted. "Digimon who die without the capacity to be reborn as eggs are sent here. Sometimes data fragments of dead or damaged digimon end up here. It happens, perhaps too often. Whenever it does, if they are not supposed to be here, they will be reformatted into Dark Servants. Sometimes however, bits of data will instead congeal together to form essentially complete digimon. This new digimon gains attributes and memories of their components… but it's a hodgepodge."

Blackagumon continued. "That's why… I speak like… this. I remember… that night. I remember… the rampage… the Destiny Stones… many battles… my emptiness… now I don't feel… so empty." He blinked when Kari started hugging him. "Oh Agumon, it is you, it is! After parrotmon attacked, we thought we'd never see you again. I'm sorry I forgot you." Blackagumon looked uncertain and caught off guard.

"Humph." Vajramon took his turn with gruffness, turning away from the scene of Kari and Blackagumon. "I am a Deva, and servant of the Sovereign. I do not come from the digital world you know. I was defeated by human children, and a sly fox. I am joined your cause because I believe these Demons are the enemies of my Sovereign. I cannot allow them to succeed." He then walked off and sat against the edge of the clearing, by the barrier that kept back the darkness and mist.

" That's… nice. Well that covers who you are, I guess," said Ken. "So why are we here? Why did you bring us back to this evil place?" Echoes of agreement with the question went round the assembled.

Davis and Yolei just waiting, realizing they'd been told far more than the others. "The barriers that have long kept separate the Digital worlds are breaking down. First the Dark Area fragments will try to reconstruct themselves, and afterwards the digital worlds will begin to collide. If the digital worlds collide, then so will the various "Real Worlds" attached to them." Leo waited for the inevitable shout of disbelief.

T.K. delivered it. "But how is that possible?"

"Because once upon a time… there was only 1 digital plane. I'm not certain which 1 is the original. It's possible they all contributed to the creation of the original. The real worlds, I mean. Regardless, in the beginning there was just the 1. It was possessed of a gateway of sorts. The Wall of Fire. On the other side of that wall, that supposedly impassable wall… was the digital equivalent of hell, crossed with the afterlife. Any evil digimon that was destroyed would wind up there. Any digimon whose data was damaged such that they couldn't be reborn? They also went there. Bits of data lost during digivolution went there. And sometimes powerful Digimon could drag down otherwise peaceful digimon as well. Or just corrupt them." Leo paused to let that soak in, and took a drink of water from a stream at his feet.

"Of course, eventually something did come through. Something always does. That's when we were called in. There were 5 of us to start with. We fought like crazy, and eventually, we won. Or we thought we did. Turned out to be a ploy. The creature split into 7 Digimon. These were the 7 Demon Lords."

"Their leader was Lucemon, who's greatest sin was Pride. Following him was Leviamon the demon of Envy. Daemon is the Demon of Wrath and one of their more powerful members. Belphemon the slothful is only truly dangerous when motivated. Barbamon is the demon of Greed and their strategist. He's also the one putting this whole Apocalypse together, with Leviamon as his rod. His carrot is Lilithmon, the demon of Lust. Those are the three trapped in the Dark Area. Last of all is Beelzemon, the demon of Gluttony. He looks like a bad biker, and acts like one too. He tends to be the first into a fight." Leo paused and took another drink.

"We and every ally we could find fought them. The war tore the whole digital world apart. Eventually, after nearly losing, we finally found a partial fix. We split the digital world into many pieces, and that split the Dark Area. Then we sealed the Demon Lords into one large segment… but we only trapped 3 of them. And we were stuck here. About 2 years ago, there was a network wide anomaly that cracked the barriers we erected to keep everything sealed. About 3 weeks ago our time, which is about 6 for you, Barbamon broke the first of the barriers. We've been searching for a solution, anything… but it's impossible to recreate the event that broke the digital world… and Barbamon knows how to overcome our seals now, so we can't use that method again… not without a lot more power. What we found was a prophecy."

He paused. "Everybody got that so far? I'll field questions soon, I promise. And I'm sorry that the prophecy doesn't rhyme."

"First were the 6, thought 5, who prolonged life but did not halt the end. They shall call to others. The 8 from the first world, and the 4 that came after, will bear the first blow. The young 6 must come down to the darkness, to bring out the light. They bear the first key.

The 3 and the rogue are needed as well. They link the traitor, the cause, and the system. The Juggernaut is a key. Forget not the home front, lest old enemies flourish. Friends new and old must grow strong.

The 6 out of ten will come forward, but ware the trickster and the knights and the web. When ten are together, victory will be in sight. Unity is a key.

Last are the 4, who have fought and defended and won. They know the last key, and have faced the threat before. Find them before all is lost.

The keys must be brought along perilous paths to the destination, and so to victory. Find the grieving mummy, for he has seen the first path.

The empty warrior who has been filled, oldest digital friend, shall bear the lantern to the second pathway.

Devas three, trapped in this cold world, shall bring the treasure to pay the way to the next path. The sword, the arrow, and the ball. One is trustworthy, one will betray us, and the last was always our foe.

The Puppet sits upon the path to the gate, but does not know where he is.

The saber guards the final gate, the path. Beyond him is a friend long lost.

Stop the joining, save the worlds, beware the beast that lurks beneath hell."

"And that," Leo said, "is the prophecy. I think it might have been written by multiple authors…"


	2. Reunion Blues

Chapter 2 Reunion Blues

**/Notes:** For this fic, I have made the decision that I will consider the Trailmon movie as some combination of non-canon and not yet occurred. This is because of the release of the Audio Drama by the original writer/director of digimon Tamers, which considers the Trailmon movie non-canon. I have chosen to take the continuity path presented by The original writer.

I should also note that if anyone can give me either a copy of the translation or a link to it, I would greatly appreciate it. Thankyou, and enjoy the Chapter.

As always, digimon the franchise and the majority of characters and digimon presented herein are copyrights of .

I do not own digimon.

Christina is an original character.

Reviews are appreciated, encouraged, and welcomed. I am happy to hear what you think of my story. If you have suggestions, criticisms, notice a plot hole, etc, please tell me. I'm all ears. I should also like to thank " " for informing me of Defense Plug-in F, a card I was unaware of when I wrote the first version of this story. I have given his information a nod in the story. Thank you!

**/Start**

Takato walked slowly to the park. He was meeting his friends at the fountains, and he was nearly there. He looked up as Henry shouted hello to him. Rika was already there. He smiled and waved back, and picked up his pace.

"Hey Rika, Hi Henry. So I guess we're the first one's here?" he said.

Rika took it as an invitation to be snarky. "Wow Gogglehead, you figured it out." There was, snark not withstanding, great warmth in her voice.

"The other's will be here in a minute or two. Ya know what though? It's been ages since the last time it was just us three… even for just a few minutes. Kinda… nostalgic."

"Yeah…" replied Rika, a faroff look in her eyes.

Takato nodded in his own agreement, was distracted by the cloud blocking out the sun, casting the 4 of them into shadow. Wait… 4? And wasn't it a cloudless day?

A red haze descended around them, obscuring a tall and strange figure from proper view. It was holding something long in its hand. There was a hiss. Only Takato was looking in the right direction to see it raise its… whatever that was and point it at Rika.

"Rika! Watch out!" he shouted as he dove at her, knocking her to the ground. He felt something hot and painful graze his back.

"Takato!" shouted Henry. "Hi-yah!" echoed somewhere in Takato's mind, and then there was a sudden burst of supremely intense light.

"Diamond Storm!" and "Pyro Sphere!" broke through his haze for a moment before it all went dark for him.

Meanwhile, 3 humans and 3 digimon were falling from the sky through a cloud of red mist, that became dark and black.

Rika shook herself and rubbed her head as she sat up and looked around. They were in the middle of some kind of valley, with mountains on all sides of them. There were a couple of trees nearby, but mostly, they were in the open. She was in the middle of a crater, much like when she first landed in the digital world. There were 3 more craters, and Guilmon's voice was coming from one of them.

"Takato, wake up! Takato!" he sounded frantic. Rika clambered out of her crater and dashed to Takato's crater. He was facedown, and his back was burned badly.

"Oh no, Takato!" She rushed down next to Guilmon and checked to see if Takato was still alive. He was, but he was burning up.

"Rika! We have to move! It's not safe here in the open."

"Renamon, how did you three get here? Terriermon, are you alright?" asked Henry. He checked his partner, who had already claimed his accustomed place on Henry's shoulder.

Renamon said nothing for a moment. "I don't know. We appeared in the digital field next to you, and then attacked whatever was in there. Then we were falling. We were not even all in the same location in the digital world, yet we still ended up in the same place. Most curious. Rika, is Takato alright?" Renamon asked, turning her attention to Rika and Takato.

"No. Whatever hit him, it did more than just burn him I think. Henry, help me get his shirt off. We need to wrap this…"

Renamon stopped Henry and stepped down and picked up Takato carefully. "First we must get somewhere less exposed. I will not lose you when I have just found you."

"That is a wise decision, Renamon." A young girl had appeared from behind a pair of nearby trees. She smiled as the others did a 180 to face her.

"Who are you?" Asked Henry, as the two digimon not carrying Takato stepped to the front, ready for a fight.

"I won't say "friend," but perhaps we could settle for the idea that I am not your enemy." She was raven haired, and decidedly not Asian. Her eyes were difficult to see clearly in the dark mists that wrapped around them. She wore military fatigue pants, a camo pattern cap, and a dark green vest over a long sleeved turtleneck sweater, black. "My name is Christina Cortez."

A digimon ghosted into view behind her. He was a dinosaur type dressed in body armor holding an assault rifle. "Ma'am! The area is not secured!"

"It's alright Commandramon, we haven't got time," Christina said as she waved him down and kept approaching. Neither Terriermon nor Guilmon stood down.

"Come any closer and I'll blast you," growled Guilmon.

"Yeah! We aren't afraid to get dangerous lady, so just stop where you are!" added Terriermon.

"Terriermon!" scolded Henry ineffectively. He sighed and looked at the girl. "What's going on? You look like you were waiting for us." He wanted to be cautious, but Takato needed help, and she hadn't done anything hostile yet.

"I was. I'm Digidestined. We need your help. We never thought you'd be attacked before you even got here. I'm sorry for that." The sorrow in her voice was actually audible. "Please, let me have a look. I think I know what hit him. I can help. Commandramon, give me the ointment and then alert Majiramon. We need to book it out of here quickly."

The Commandramon saluted and faded from view as quickly as he had appeared. She turned back to the 3 tamers and their 3 digimon. "May I approach?" She blinked when she realized Renamon had disappeared. "Oh dear. If you can, warn her than Majiramon is the Dragon Deva and does not appreciate surprises. I would rather not have a fight start and draw even more attention from the Demon Lords… please?" she looked at Henry and Rika, pleadingly. The please did sound a bit forced though. "I just want to help you. This is all our fault, I'd just like to do a little bit to help fix it."

"Renamon, don't attack anything… yet." Rika was still looking at Christina suspiciously. "If you make it worse…"

"I know. This will help slow the spread of the virus. Then we need to wrap him up tight and get out of here. Majiramon is waiting to fly us to a safer location." She knelt down and began spreading the ointment she had in a bottle onto Takato's back. The redness went down immediately.

"Why are you working with a Deva? And I thought they were all destroyed… except Antilamon."

"They were. This is the digital equivalent of Hell. Evil and damaged digimon go here when they die, when their data isn't absorbed and reused. Majiramon's remaining data was sent here after he was destroyed by a Cyberdramon. That much he remembers. He absorbed enough data to repair himself when he arrived, but except for his calculated greed, his rage over the incident, indeed, his "evil" behavior is pretty much gone. Truthfully, from what we pieced together, he wasn't even evil to begin with. His data was damaged too greatly for repair in his fight with that Cyberdramon I guess, so he wound up here." She paused to examine her work, and nodded. Then she grabbed Takato's shirt and Jacket and began using it to wrap his back. "That should do it. So who carries him?"

She looked at Rika and Henry, and then said, "Both of you. And that leaves your digimon free to keep their eyes on me and our surroundings. We need to go."

"Alright. Terriermon, you watch her. Guilmon?" Henry asked as he moved to pick up Takato. Rika helped.

"I will watch all of you," he said. Then he paused and sniffed the air. His eyes took on that familiar feral look. "Something is coming."

"Oh joy," muttered Christina sarcastically. "Let's go you two. We've got no time left." She spoke into her watch, saying, "Commandramon, bring Majiramon around, we need to get over those mountains now and lose any pursuit. We're too under strength to risk a fight. And we're in Nightmare soldier territory. You know that means digimon, not Servants."

Commandramon's voice came out of the watch. "Yes Ma'am. On our way."

Soon, a whistling rose in the air. Then a very large green and mustached dragon came into view. He had 6 legs and wore a vest. He settled next to them and rumbled "Get on already. That'll be an extra 2000 yuan for the fast pickup… not that you ever pay me," he grumbled. The Tamers were momentarily stunned, and paused.

Christina yelled at them, "Hurry UP!" in as low a yell as she could manage. They snapped out of it and, warily, got on with Renamon's help. Once everyone was one, Majiramon rose slightly off the ground, and then shot forward towards the edge of the valley and the mountains beyond.

Soon, it appeared they had not been pursued as they passed into the shadows of the mountains. Christina let out a sigh of relief. It was then Majiramon decided to speak up again. "I remember you, young one. You fought against me. Tell me, did you defeat my Sovereign?" He said it like he knew the answer.

Terriermon started to say something to the effect of, "Yes we kicked his sorry firebird butt!" but was smothered by Henry, who simply said, "No, but we didn't lose either."

Majiramon let out a "Humph," and fell silent. "So you are not a braggart. Well, I have no desire to be your enemy here, for there are greater and more worrisome enemies. I shall hold off requesting repayment for my death until we are free of this world and the greater enemy is defeated. Perhaps in that time I will decide I like you."

Henry blinked. "Um… thankyou?"

"Why should we repay you for destroying you?" asked Rika irritably. "You Devas attack us and stole Calumon."

Christine jumped into the conversation before Majiramon could respond. "Not now, please, while the nice Majiramon is providing us a ride to safety and we are on his back?"

Rika huffed and fell silent. Everyone fell silent at that point. It wasn't long before they left the mountains behind and entered a sort of river valley full of trees and water.

As they entered the valley, there was an explosion off to their left. "They found us! Commandramon, Digivolve!" In his place appeared an armored figure, but it was gone in a moment, off the side and into the trees. "Majiramon, get us some altitude!"

"Why are we climbing?" asked Henry, looking around. "They're all over the sky!"

"And if we stay on the ground, they'll just bombard us from on high! Besides, Majiramon has more fun in the air," responded Tina.

"Henry, we should Digivolve!" Rika said.

"Not yet! Majiramon, add 540,000 yuan to my tab please!" she shouted to the dragon digimon.

"As you wish. Hold on tight, younglings. I haven't used this attack in years!" Majiramon began a very steep climb, moving much faster than the gathered Flymon, Kuwagamon, and Devidramon. He soared above them, and smiled. "Thousand Arrows!" there was a bright flash, and a thousand arrows flew downwards upon the assembled digimon. Very few survived. Majiramon hadn't even been scratched.

He dropped down as a blurred shadow began attacking the remaining enemy digimon, who soon fled the valley for fear of facing a foe beyond their power.

Tina looked around, and waited for her digimon to suddenly reappear on Majiramon's back. "They are coming back, Ma'am, but I have eliminated the remaining forces in the valley. We are momentarily beyond their sight."

She nodded. "We're getting off. Majiramon, can you handle providing a distraction and meeting us at the cave later?" He humphed as they leapt off. Then he soared into the sky and roared.

"I'm sick of waiting around… Renamon, Digivolve and we'll take care of Takato and get out of here quickly. Renamon, Bio-merge!"

There was a flash and then, "Bio-Merge failed." The two tamers went through all their available digivolutions, while Tina sat down and sighed to wait it out.

"What's going on? Why can't we Digivolve?"

"I was afraid of this. The Dark Area is designed to prevent all digivolution. It can be overcome, but it may be a while before you can do so."

Rika looked annoyed, and then dug through all the cards she had on her. At which point she lost her cool. "I don't have it! Defense Plug-In F! I always carry that card, it would override the field effects instantly…"

Henry dug through his own cards and couldn't find anything. Neither felt it was the time to go digging through Takato's cards when he was still hurt. Rika especially… she was still hiding the feeling inside that it was her fault Takato was hurt. He HAD shoved her out of the way of that beam. If she'd been paying attention, she should have dodged that.

Henry was more occupied with the strangeness of the situation. Somewhere called the Dark Area, a girl who claims to be their ally and also says it is her fault they were here. She had a digimon. She was working with a Deva… even if he didn't seem as bad as some of the others. And there was the fact they'd fallen under attack before they even arrived.

"Henry?" asked Terriermon, reading his mood.

"Hmmm?" he said, looking up at the digimon on his head as they set off, now that all their attempts to Digivolve had failed. "I'm just thinking about how this whole thing,"

"Stinks?" finished Terriermon for him.

"Yeah, I suppose you could call it that," responded Henry, chuckling.

"Well I don't like it either. It does stink. Why are we still following this girl?" he asked.

Christina twitched, proving she had overheard. Henry sighed. "Tact, Terriermon, Tact. I thought we discussed that? Anyways, we're following her because she hasn't attacked us, and she seems to be the only person who knows what's going on. Plus she's human and a Tamer. That ought to count for something."

"We're almost there. See up there, among the cliffs?" she pointed toward a towering set of cliffs. "The entrance is up there." A small trail could be seen at the base of the cliff.

"We have to climb up a cliff?" asked Terriermon.

"No! That would be stupid. It's hidden at the base of the cliff, which is slightly less stupid. The trail is intentionally misleading."

A great "Oh," of understanding went round the assembled. "We'll be there soon as then I can explain some of what's going on." It didn't take them all that long to reach the entrance to the so called "cave."

However, they failed to notice a small shadow detach itself from the shadows and dart away. A shadow with what some might have called eyes in its palms, dressed in cartoony fashion. Sadly, nobody of any importance saw it leave.

There was another event that the 3 tamers and their new allies missed, back at the location they arrived at. At the other end of the valley, a pair slowly floated to earth. Ryo looked at his partner. "They left without us. Damn. I think we should go after them."

"I fought him before… why are they working with him now?" asked Cyberdramon.

"I'm not sure, come on, we've gotta see what this is all about." The pair began slowly traipsing their way through the valley when a shadow flew out of the sky and attacked.

"Feather Flare!" shouted Karatenmon as he struck at the intruders. The others had escaped, for now, but he would not fail his master Astamon by letting these get away.

Cyberdramon dodged the furious rain of deadly feathers. "Desolation claw!" responded Cyberdramon, but Karatenmon dodged and scored a blow with his Swords, using his Harmony Swords ability.

Ryo decided to preempt further danger. "Digi-modify! Defense Plug-in F Activate! Bio-Merge, Activate!" Karatenmon paled when he found himself looking at Justimon. Of course, that was about all he had time for. Justimon's "Justice Burst" vaporized him almost immediately. Ryo then cancelled the bio-merge and switched on the tracker on his D-power.

It was going to be a long day, he thought.

Meanwhile, supposedly safe in the brightly lit cavern, with Takato treated, resting, and recovering, watched over by Rika and Guilmon, Christina sat across from the Tamers and their digimon. Commandramon stood behind her, watching warily.

"So, you are one of the very first digi-destined? You precede Tai, Matt, and the rest of the 8?" asked Henry. He had watched the original television show, but his primary interest had lane in the videogames and cards.

"That's correct. It probably seems strange that the show itself was as real as the digimon upon which the cards were based, but it, or the events that unconsciously inspired it, certainly were real. We, however, came before even that. I cannot say for certain which digital world, or even which human world, we are actually from. We may not be from ANY of them… but I don't have time to worry about that. As I explained, the Demon Lords are planning something. Rejoining the fragmented Dark Area is just the first step. Problem is, we don't know what the plan is after that. If the fragments finish coming together, worlds will end, but while that might destroy opposition, there won't be much left to rule." She paused both to consider and to let things sink it a little.

"Alright, you all look tired. How about we get some sleep? It's almost nightfall." This was agreed to, although both Commandramon and Renamon remained awake. Christina handed out blankets and went to sleep on the other side of the fire, which was slowly dying. Henry slept against the cavern wall with Terriermon atop his chest. Terriermon snored softly.

Rika at first slept badly, and so she got up to check on Takato. Guilmon was already asleep curled up against his Tamer. Takato was running a light fever again and mumbling in his sleep. She frowned and laid a hand on him. He settled a little. Rika stayed until she fell asleep herself to the sound of her own name, "Rika." She would be embarrassed in the morning to find herself asleep next to Takato, doubtlessly.

For Takato's part his dreams were not pleasant, and often involved pain and suffering for both him and his friends. There were moments were it was better, and no moment of particular monstrosity. In the morning, he would remember only one piece of the dream, and that only vaguely. In it, he was fleeing from something down a long corridor. There was a door at the other end. It wouldn't open, and the _thing_ was getting closer. Then, just as it was about to catch him, the door opened, and he stumbled into sunlight. He blinked. Standing several feet away from him, in a blue dress, was Rika. "Wow. You look beautiful, Rika." She smiled as the cherry blossoms blew in the wind.

Meanwhile, in a small castle many miles to the west, a small being shuffled into the audience chamber of a small castle with a large grin upon his face. Seated upon a large chair was Astamon, a powerful lord of the Dark Area. Astamon smiled, and his smile was most terrifying.

"Ah, Dracmon, welcome back," said the Demon. "I have just sent your brother and Shadowweregarurumon off to rectify Karatenmon's mistake. It seems there was a straggler to this tiny invasion force. I sent Karatenmon to investigate the area. He was there at the same time your forces were engaging Majiramon. There was a power spike and a mighty digimon destroyed him." Astamon paused to sip from his chalice. "I suspect it was a Mega. Now then, what have you to say?" He gave Dracmon a piercing look.

"I have located their base of operations. They are using the old outposts. I left Boogeymon as lookout, to see that they do not slip away while I am gone. Majiramon, as expected, continues to evade our forces." Dracmon bowed low and waited for Astamon to reply.

It was some moments before he did. He took a sip of something from his chalice, thinking. Then he said, "Hmph. The Dragon is of no consequence. We will destroy him at our leisure once the children are dealt with. Take the Ogremon Brothers, a squadron of Flymon, and MetalTyrannomon, and lay an ambush. Use your full power, and destroy all their digimon. Leave the humans alive, I will have use for them. Especially if it is she, as Lord Barbamon has anticipated. She will be a prize beyond all prizes at this early stage. Go."

Dracmon bowed again, and scurried away, his devious mind already planning great mischief and mayhem and destruction for the foolish Digi-destined children. Oh what a glorious day it would be.


	3. The Frontier is closer than you think

Chapter 3 The frontier is closer than you think

/Note: Hello all, and thanks for reading chapter 3. If you haven't guessed… yes, I'm introducing the Frontier kids this chapter. For those who read the original version of this fic, well, you'll probably recognize some of what happens to these two.

As always, Reviews of any kind are appreciated, IF and only IF they keep a civil tongue. If you absolutely HATE this fic, or maybe just Frontier, and you want to tell me so, that is fine if you can be civil about it. If you absolutely LOVE this fic, etc, that's fine too. If you have concerns or notice plot holes, things like that, I'd love to know. I want this fan fic as continuity error free as a I can make it, without sacrificing my story, etc. Chapter 4 will be out next week.

/Start

Takuya blinked as against the glare when he opened his eyes. He was… caught in something. That something was a purple net at the bottom of an elevator shaft, a see-through elevator shaft. Izumi, Koji, Koichi, J.P. and Tommy were in similar nets. Why was he in a net, he wondered. Oh right, he was going to the park, and he got in an elevator to go down to the street from the station. "HEY! Anybody awake over there?" he yelled. No answer. "HEY!" he yelled louder still. Tommy twitched. Koji groaned. "Koji, wake up buddy! We're trapped!"

Koji opened his own eyes. "Whad'da ya want?" he mumbled, before realizing what state he was in. "What the heck is going on here? What is this?" he asked as he struggled against the webs. He was stuck fast, however.

"I don't know, but man I don't like it," replied Takuya. "Help me wake the others. Maybe one of us will get lucky."

Koji nodded and started shouting. Unfortunately, he was interrupted by a loud train whistle. Quite suddenly, both Takuya and Koji felt themselves slip free and start to fall. Takuya thought he caught a glimpse of a familiar train as he blacked out once more.

This time, he awoke in a train car. There was a digimon clothed all in white torn clothing seated across from him, who also looked like he'd just woke up. Somehow, as Takuya looked at him, an image of Koji superimposed itself on the digimon… and Takuya knew that it WAS Koji. Oh great… he looked down at his hands. He recognized those hands. He used the window as a mirror, and saw his reflection. Oh yeah, this again.

"I already did this, why again?" he muttered, not expecting an answer. Expectations, as some will say, exist to be defeated.

"Only way kid. You were stuck, there was only one choice." He blinked, starring towards the front of the train. He knew that voice…Dark Trailmon. It had to be.

"You again? What's going on?"

"They'll explain everything, young man. Glad to see that it wasn't the end of the line. Can you handle something even more dangerous?" DarkTrailmon asked Takuya. Before he could answer, Koji woke up.

Koji blinked, and looked around. "Takuya?" he asked, then centered on Takuya. "Who are you?" he asked.

"It's me, Koji. Takuya. I know, I look kind of different, but… it's me." Koji looked closer at him, and then nodded.

"Fine. Where are we? Or rather, What are we doing here. I don't remember any cell phone messages from Ophanimon." He looked out the window, but it was just darkness. Not that of a tunnel, just… darkness.

"Here we go, young man. End of the line, again. Or maybe the beginning. Whatever you make of it." DarkTrailmon pulled into a tiny station, and the doors opened. Takuya and Koji stepped out and looked around. Darkness loomed everywhere.

"Is this the Dark continent?" asked Koji. It didn't quite seem like it, because of the mist. The Dark continent hadn't had this much strange mist, or lack of actual color. It had been dark… but it still had color. This whole place seemed almost in shades of gray.

"Nope. This is the Dark Area, kid. Good luck. We're counting on you." Dark Trailmon started pulling out of the station. Koji watched him go, wondering why he wasn't getting back on the train. Takuya was looking elsewhere.

"So. Welcome to the Dark Area. But ya know? I thought there would be more of you. We were expecting 6, all on one train." A guy in goggles was watching them from atop a pillar in the station. He was dressed in a black button up shirt, which was unbuttoned to reveal a lightning bolt adorned blue shirt underneath. The underside of the rolled up sleeves of the overshirt was a dark red. He had some kind of armguard or bracer on his arms. These were black, with a hint of steel and silver. His jeans were also black, and his belt was red. His belt had a samurai helmet styled belt buckle. His belt was red. He had short black hair and a scar through one eye. He smiled.

Koji and Takuya both took defensive stances as they faced down this teenager. "Who are you? Why did you know to expect us?" asked Koji, jumping to the point.

"I'm Morgan Watanabe. I am one of the original 6 Digi-destined. It is nice to meet you. I am here to guide you to destiny." He hopped down off the pillar and looked at his watch. Then he looked at the two of them. Then he indicated Takuya. "So you are Flamemon? And you," here he indicated Koji, "Are Strabimon. Interesting. So where are your partners? And where are the others?"

Takuya glanced at Koji. "Partners? We don't have… well, we have our friends. Um… Their stuck in a web?" he offered, hesitantly. "What do you mean by partners?"

"Your human partners, is what I mean. You are the rookie forms of Agunimon and Lobomon, right? Morgan looked at them. It was clear something was off, but he hadn't entirely pinned it down.

"We're Agunimon and Lobomon, yeah. But we ARE people. We don't have, ah, digimon partners so much as we have spirits that let us turn into digimon." Takuya provided.

Morgan blinked. Oh… well that was different. "Ok… so can you turn human then please?"

Koji just looked at Takuya. Takuya thought for a second, and then pulled out his D-tector and started hitting buttons. Nothing happened. He looked up at Morgan. "Alright, looks like I can't."

"Well, I'll take the Digivice as evidence, I guess. Damnit all to here, this is NOT what we were expecting. So… their stuck in a web? Do you two normally look like this?" he said. Takuya wasn't sure why at all, but he felt he could trust this guy. He just seemed completely non-hostile. That, and he was wearing goggles. Somehow, that helped.

Takuya took a step forward. "I'm Takuya, this is Koji. Normally we look human, but… I think our bodies are still stuck in the web." Koji blinked, then nodded.

"His brother once visited the digital world in soul only. Of course, he still looked human. I don't know why we look like digimon. I mean, I did this once before. Took that Trailmon, went back home, figured out why I couldn't run away anymore… but that time, I didn't know who I was, so to speak. That's why I turned into… this. I'm not sure why it happened this time."

"I can guess. Increases your odds of survival here. Digimon can take more damage than a human and survive. Hmmmm. Are you stuck in webs at the station?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah. Do you know what to do about it?" asked Koji. He was less sure of this new kid, and watched him warily.

"Yeah, Take the trailmon back to the station. One problem. He won't be back for… a couple weeks at least. See?" he asked, pointing to the arrival board across the tracks. On it was listed the day and time of their arrival. The next scheduled arrival wasn't until… 4 weeks from that day, exactly. "So… we need to find another way there. Would you two be kind enough to come with me? I can explain what's going on, but this isn't the place. Nobody except us knows about this station, but we need to leave, because I could be wrong and the station isn't protected. Ryudamon, we're moving out."

A small digimon came jogging out of the mists. He looked rather like a dinosaur and he was armored in black samurai style protection. "Hi Morgan. We're still safe. Shall I Digivolve to get us out of here quickly?"

"Alright, that works. So, shall we get going? Destiny is that way," he finished with, pointing off towards a giant spire off in the distance. "Now then. Ryudamon, Digi-volve!

A bright light surrounded Ryudamon, and instead of the fractal code the two warriors were expecting, it was just… light. "Ryudamon Digivolve to Ginryumon!" The light disappeared and Ryudamon had been replaced by a 4 legged much larger dragon.

Morgan hopped on and motioned to the two of them. "Come on guys, we need to get moving before we're noticed." Koji and Takuya, for different reasons, leapt right onto the back of Ginryumon and they all set off.

They travelled in the dark towards the spire for some time, and it never seemed to get any closer. At one point, Takuya moaned and asked, "Are we gonna get there anytime soon?"

Morgan quickly waved him down and gazed about warily. Then he bent down and laid a hand on Ginrymon's neck. The digimon shook his head and began moving again. Koji merely sat quietly and looked about. His ability to go without saying a word had long stood him in good stead.

As time passed, Takuya got more and more agitated, but tried to real it in. The 4 companions moved steadily. As the day wore on, the Spire finally appeared to be getting closer. Suddenly, Ginryumon stopped and went still. All four of them slowly looked about. Takuya tried to take advantage of his advanced senses to spot trouble. He did. But it was already too late.

An Aurumon stood in a high tree nearby, and gave out a small hoot. As all 4 turned to face it, several more digimon stepped out of the shadows at a run. They were all of them humanoid. They were clothed in thick brown fur, with spikes on their shoulders. They all wielded axes. 3 of them were a pale blue skinned, but one was black skinned. All of them had red hair and fur caps.

"Great," muttered Morgan. "Lumbermon. Foul tempered, foolhardy, and they always attack first." He then ducked an axe that came spinning through the air at him. The guilty Lumbermon pulled out another one.

Takuya, however, was grinning. "Finally, something clear cut!" He jumped forward and pulled out his D-tector. "Spirit Evolution!" he shouted.

Morgan, meantime, was shouting, "NO!"

Agunimon appeared and with a "Pyro Tornado" the offending Lumbermon, who had charged, was just Fractal code. "Fractal Code, Digitize!" said Takuya, and scanned it.

"Damnit you idiot! We could have got out of this without a fight! Now Quick, we need to take out the rest and run. Ginryumon, catch that Aurumon!"

Koji, however, was on the ball. He quickly evolved to Lobomon and used his "Lobo Kendo!" attack to take care of the problematic digimon.

"Tekkoujin!" shouted Ginrymon. He fired a spear from his mouth, which pierced and destroyed a Lumbermon. Meanwhile, Takuya was squaring off against DarkLumbermon, who was an enraged battler. Morgan left him to it. DarkLumbermon was an Ultimate level digimon, and Morgan and his partner would have been hardpressed. Takuya, however, took accidental advantage of a Lumbermon's weakness to fire and turned him into burning fur and mon before scanning him.

The last one looked at the carnage, and turned to flee. He didn't escape the clearing.

"Quickly, get back here. We've got to run for it. We got lucky, but more powerful digimon will come this way, and we won't be so lucky again. MOVE!" he added, when they didn't. The two warriors turned back into their base forms and hopped on as Ginryumon galloped away. They rode hard, but Morgan could feel it wouldn't be enough. Things were about to turn south again, and this time they were really going to get hurt… this whole thing was just going wrong.

And of course, he was right. It had gone wrong. But Morgan was a believer in DESTINY. Not just a little fate, but that grand design and purpose for which countries are obliterated and lives lost, by which new nations rise to grand heights thought unattainable. That most powerful of forces that even chaos cannot wholly conquer. And Morgan's DESTINY was far from finished. Fate had his back. And his front too.

So when a pair of devidramon swooped down upon them led by a Phantomon, Morgan saw it coming, and threw up a shield. Now some will think that by "threw up a shield" it is meant that his partner digimon has such ability. This is not what is meant. Morgan is the holder and wielder of a pair of black bracers of curious function. They are attack options created for digimon by digimon, to enhance battle power. Morgan's were known as the "Shield and Crossbow" bracers. Their effectiveness against anything was largely dependent on, for lack of a better term, his desire. As to why a human was using them, well, they actually work for anything capable of the requisite level of desire.

In this case, he had a very strong desire to not die, and a stronger desire to win, and so the barrier held long enough for everyone to scatter. Koji and Takuya spirit evolved to prepare for the fight. And a fight it was going to be.

A figure appeared behind Phantomon, stepping out of the shadows. Skullsatamon, he was, and a pretty customer he wasn't. His bony body caste a menacing figure in the shadows of that place. He looked at the fragments of shield fading away as Morgan stopped powering it.

"Nice shield, Morgan. How have you been, old foe?" he asked, grinning wickedly. Then he added, "Miss me much?"

"No," replied Morgan. "I keeping hoping you've gotten yourself killed along the way. What are you doing out here? This is practically no mons land." Ginrymon remained still, with Agunimon on his left and Lobomon on his right.

"Well, ya see, my old boss Barbamon knew what you was up to, didn't he? So we were out here waiting for you. And when you got sighted by that Aurumon, well, we knew just where we'd find you."

"You know this guy?" asked Takuya. He was eying the pair of devidramon. They were now flanked by a swarm of Bakemon. Great, he thought, this is just getting better and better.

Koji had similar thoughts, though his focused more on Morgan's seeming inadequacy at getting them into and out of this mess. Shouldn't he have been expecting this?

Morgan answered Takuya without taking his eyes of Skullsatamon. "Yes, I do. We've clashed many times, and I can never seem to kill him. It would be nice if I could help Ginryumon Digivolve further… but for now that's not an option. What about you two?" Takuya blinked. He almost turned to glance and Koji, but remembered himself in time. Those enemies would pounce if he stopped watching them. Morgan, however, seemed to be waiting for something.

"Oh good, he's here," Morgan said suddenly. Skullsatamon whipped around as he felt the heat rise a couple degrees instantly. He dodged, but Phantomon was not so lucky, for he was the intended target.

"Who?" was all Phantomon got off before he found himself incinerated by an Asura God-fist attack courtesy of Asuramon. He laughed loudly and began attacking everything in sight, his wrathful face full of as much glee as it could manage.

"Hey Asuramon, nice timing!" shouted Morgan. He grinned as he fired off a bolt from the "Crossbow" part of his bracers. He did so with a shout of "Lightning Crossbow!" It struck a Devidramon, but didn't seem to phase it. It did, however, distract it from Ginryumon's "Tekkoujin" attack, which resulted in a spear going through its neck. Morgan then turned his attention to the Bakemon while Agunimon found himself fighting Skull Satamon alongside Lobomon.

Takuya knew this wasn't good. He had faced Skullsatamon before. There had been 3 of them, and it had required EmperorGreymon and Magnagarurumon to beat them. This time, there was one of them, and they didn't have those two forms available. They did have… Beast mode?"

"Agunimon! Slide evolution! BurningGreymon!" Takuya set to with a will, for he had seen a way.

Koji similarly utilized his beast spirit and became KendoGarurumon. He leapt to the attack alongside Takuya, trying to keep SkullSatamon off balance. For his part, SkullSatamon just cackled and tossed around his "Bone Blaster" attack. He was not yet trying all too hard.

For his part, Morgan was using his crossbow to kill Bakemon. Ginrymon was battling a Devidramon. Asuramon was trying to decide what to do next. "Asuramon!" shouted Morgan. "Please help the other two. If we can give SkullSatamon a hard enough time, he will pull out before he risks deletion!" Asuramon nodded, as he assumed his face of blessings. In this case, he _was_ the blessing.

"Asura Sweltering Fist!" he shouted, beginning his own attack on SkullSatamon. Meanwhile, Takuya dodged another Bone Blaster and activated his Rudori Tarpana to fire a "Pyro Barrage!" at the demonic Digimon. SkullSatamon dodged both attacks, but let himself fall into the classic blunder. He lost sight of enemy number 3… and as anyone can tell you, you NEVER take your eyes off the fastest member… the Interceptor.

"Howling Star!" sounded from just behind and below SkullSatamon. He only had time to utter an "Oh Damnation," before he was sliced by a pair of very large blades moving _very_ quickly. He landed hard and looked at the slash on his chest. The 3 currently allies looked at him, preparing another set of attacks to finish the job. "Bone Blastshield!" he shouted, just as a "Lupine Laser!" an "Asura God-Fist!" and a "Wildfire Tsunami!" all converged on his location.

In seconds he was moving very fast away from the location. 3 on 1 was unfair. He dared not risk it now that he was hurt. No, he'd come back with better support. He hadn't expected they would muster that much firepower already. Damn those Digi-Destined brats and their traitorous allies. Damn them to, well, HELL!

Morgan came running up as Takuya and Koji returned to Strabimon and Flamemon. "Come on guys, we need to keep moving before we get ambushed again. We're so close…" he trailed off, pointing at the spire. It was looming ever larger, and seemed somehow to exude a presence greater than rock should project.

"Are we ever gonna get there?" whined Takuya, as he took a seat on Ginryumon.

"Hey, at least you don't have to run the whole way," muttered Ginryumon.

They continued their hurried trek to the spire, hoping that fate would take their side as they tried to shake pursuit and reach safety.

A day later, Leo was leaning back against a tree, letting things soak in and considering what they would do next. The area they were in was commonly called the "Dark Ocean." It was nominally under the control of a being called Dragomon, the "Sinful Priest of the Ocean Floor." Dragomon was a powerful opponent, and extremely dangerous. He'd brought it up with the 6, and discovered Kari had been brought to the Dark Ocean before… by Dragomon. That wasn't supposed to be possible. Or rather… _leaving_ wasn't supposed to be possible. Of course, he knew it was not just because of Kari or Ken, but because the 7 Great Demon Lords had invaded out of the Dark Area before. They had found ways… but he hadn't expected any of the Digidestined to be able to pull it off… much less THREE of them. Was that important in how they could win this fight? Or for that matter, would it still work?

"Hey, Leo? I was just wondering…" began Davis. Leo looked up and nodded his head for Davis to continue. Davis looked at the other 5, and then began again. "Well," he said, "Kari and T.B. got in here before, right? And so has Ken. So does that mean we can _leave_ the Dark Area as well? I mean, if they could then, why can't we all do it now?"

Leo hmmmed to himself, and then hopped to his feet. "I really couldn't say… it's possible we CAN leave the Dark Area… But part of the problem is, if we do leave… can we get back in? We just don't know. Still… it's worth a shot. But not tonight, I'm thinking. We're all gonna be tired, and and if things go wrong, you need to be well rested. Theirs food here, so let's eat and sleep. We can try it in the morning, if that's acceptable."

Davis looked at the others, and variations of "Sure," and "That makes sense I guess," were heard around the clearing.

Vajramon growled and cantered off to the other side of the clearing by himself. BlackAgumon smiled apologetically and then joined the Children for a meal. The various digimon were largely getting along, though Blazermon had thus far not had any great interactions with them. Until Veemon trotted over with a bowl of food.

He plopped down in front of Blazermon and smiled. "So, what's your story again buddy? I kinda wanted to know, cause you look almost like me when I'm Flamedramon. Care to share?" he asked, and offered his bowl.

Blazermon looked at the proffered bribe, and laughed. He pointed to Leo, who was carrying an extra bowl of the same stew that Veemon had. "Leo has my share. But I'll share all the same. I was made from the data of a Flamedramon, long ago when the first Enemy crossed the wall of fire. The intent of my… creators, was to corrupt the data of the armor digivolutions that had caused them so many problems, and use the digimon's last known hope against them. I was the only experiment to survive the process. I am a Champion, rather than an Armor, and as you may have noticed, I'm black where you are blue… but in truth that is as far as they succeeded. One of my designers had the inspired idea to make me a data type instead of a virus type… so while I am a mutation of Flamedramon, I am not a _corrupted_ mutation. I escaped…" he trailed off as he accepted a bowl of stew from Leo.

Leo continued where he had left off. By now, the entire camp was listening intently to the story. "After he escaped, he met a digital being called Genni. Genni is the one who told us about you all, before we called you, incidentally. Anyways, Genni knew, somehow, that Blazermon and I were meant to be partners. He made a digivice and had Blazermon hold onto it. When I was brought to the Digital world, the very first digimon I saw was Blazermon. We've been friends ever since." They bumped claw to knuckle as Blazermon downed his soup in one go.

Sniff, Sniff, Snort, sniff

Mummymon was blowing his nose on his bandages and crying. "That story gets to me every time," he said, and blew his nose again. Everybody fell apart laughing, including Leo.

"Mummymon," Leo said, "You've never heard that story before."

"I know!" said Mummymon, "But it still makes me cry."

A day earlier, and very far away in the Dark Area, the spire loomed over the heads of 2 Legendary warriors and 1 of the original Digi-destined and his partner. And one Asuramon. They looked at it in awe. It was just one gigantic rock… shaped like Tokyo Tower. Morgan motioned the others to follow him to the base. "One we're inside, we'll be safe. Only an Angelic digimon or a digivice can open these things. The entrance should be… here." He said, and held up his let wrist. The watch, his digivice, blowed and emitted a beam of light that hit a suddenly visible keyhole. This caused a doorway to appear. Morgan led the 5 of them through the doorway, and it closed behind them. Inside… it looked like just a cave… with a stream and a fruit tree and real clean sunlight coming down from a hole at the top of the Spire. "Welcome to the Spire you two. Enjoy your stay while you can. Over that way we have a chamber with beds, and on the other side is a bathroom with a hotsprings. This is easily the ritziest hidey hole in the Dark Area. Sit back, enjoy, and once your comfortable we'll get down to business." He turned and went over to the tree, and laid down in the shade beneath it. In the shadow of the tree, the scar through his eye somehow seemed less ugly.

Takuya and Koji took a moment to explore and, having discovered Morgan wasn't lying about the hot springs, went and took a seat by the tree. Asuramon had gone off to enjoy the hot springs. Takuya and Koji had managed thus far not to offend the violence happy digimon, but both could literally feel the aura of violence he exuded.

"So… is it safe around that guy. I mean, he seems to be on our side, but he seems supremely happy to fight…" asked koji, keeping an eye on the door into the springs.

Morgan sighed and didn't open his eyes. Ryudamon was already asleep.

"Asuramon is a tri-polar digimon. He loves to fight and cause harm. He gets more opportunities to do that by siding with us against the Demon Lords than he does siding against us. For now… so we don't bug him too much, and he comes along and kicks butt… lots of it. We tend to be vastly outnumbered, so every bit helps." It was an acceptable answer for Koji, and Takuya thought that it wasn't a bad answer.

"So, you two probably want to know why you are here, and what we're gonna do about your friends. Well… I'm not sure about the second yet. Zach, you online?" he asked the empty air as he sat up and opened his eye.

A voice came out of his digivice. "Am I ever not online?" the voice, presumably Zach, asked.

"No. But I like to check, just in case. So Ryudamon and I found our reinforcements… problem is we only got two of them. The other 4 are tangled up in webs back at their entrance to the digital world. You know the one, that train station Dark Trailmon described. So we need another way to get there… and we probably need back up. Suggestions?"

"Hmmm… well I do have an idea, actually. First I'm sending you reinforcements. Cody's team can meet you at the L Terminal. They might have somebody who can help. I'll see what I can find and check with the other teams. Contact me when you meet up with them. Zach out."

Morgan looked at the other two, who had listened silently. He smiled, saying, "Well that's a plan, for now. There are some other teams of digi-destined coming to help. 4 different teams in all. The combination of all of you is critical, plus we need a few extras. Why don't I start from the beginning?" he asked rhetorically.

Koji answer anyways. "Yeah, please do, not like we have anything better to do." He was only half sarcastic.

"Well," started Morgan, and he proceeded to give them the whole spiel on the Dark Area, the Demon Lords, the prophecy, etc. Then he asked them some questions about their own travels in the digital world, and about their spirit evolutions. When it was all done, Asuramon came walking out of the hot springs with a couple fishing poles. He tossed one to Ryudamon and another to Morgan. Even though it was from his blind side, he caught it easily, and nodded his thanks. Turning to Takuya and Koji, he said, "You wanna eat first, or wash first? If you wanna eat, grab a pole. The fish are safe to eat inside the sanctuaries, unlike everywhere else. Well, not everywhere else, but like I said before, food in the Dark Area is generally unsafe for the health."

The pair of them grabbed fishing poles and joined the "hunt." After a dinner of Asuramon roasted fish and assorted fruit from the "All Fruits tree," they took a wash in the hot springs to round out their day. Morgan and Ryudamon joined them.

We'll leave them here for a moment and have a look at our last set of digital warriors, the Dats squad.


	4. When all you have is a Fist

Chapter 4 When all you have is a fist

/Author's notes/rants

I'm really sorry about the delay in updates. I could claim school, writer's block, work, or some other things. But really, I just got distracted by less important things, such as Shinji and Warhammer 40k (a fanfic). It is REALLY good, but not for everyone. Check it out if you at all like either Evangelion or Warhammer40k. but anyways, on to business.

I am going to lay out some ground rules for myself.

/1. I will always update on Wednesdays or Tuesday just before midnight, from here on out. This way, if I finish early, I will have time to get further ahead on the next chapter. Eventually, I might even have a buffer, but let's focus on the now.

/2. My updates will always be a minimum of 8 pages. This is based on my Word program, so it might come out different for different people.

I will try to update weekly, but I can't make that a promise. I have a heavy semester that I must pour much effort into. Writing this will help me relieve stress, but school will still come first. Thank you for the reviews, the favs, and the alerts. More reviews are appreciated. The more you can tell me, the more I can improve. Now, Enjoy!

/Start

The man called Bauncho stood overlooking the brewing battlefield. The combatants were not yet aware of his arrival. Excellent. He enjoyed surprise entrances.

Lined up below him was a large group of Gotsumon, facing a large group of Woodmon. It was going to be an interesting brawl. According to the Gotsumon, the forest was encroaching on their quarry. According to the Woodmon, the quarry was encroaching on the forest. Well, that was what Falcomon said. For the most part the partner digimon had dispersed into two main groups. One stayed with the group of digimon displaced from the captital, Eldradimon. The other, consiting of Agumon, Falcomon, and Gaomon occasionally.

"Aniki, are we going to do anything?" asked Agumon, standing at his right.

Masaru grinned. "Yes, I think we are. But wait for it… wait for it…" Masaru waited until the precise moment the two groups started charging. Then, yelling at the top of his lungs, he leapt down from above them along with Agumon.

"HEY! You guys! What do you think your doing, beating each other up like this? That's _my_ job, thank you very much." He landed inbetween the two groups. Both had stopped, and remained unmoving.

"It's the Bauncho!" shouted one of the Gotsumon. Masaru turned to them. "Indeed. So… are you going to do anything about it? He asked, grinning. He pounded one first into the other palm, still grinning. As the Gotsumon silently shook their heads, and gave both groups a glance. "So… Who wants to make the first move?" Behind him, Agumon and Falcomon looked quite intimidating. In moments the battlefield was empty.

Masaru sighed and lay down on the ground. He looked up at the sky, the smile gone from his lips. It was, honestly, getting kind of annoying, how quickly they would cut and run when he showed up. And worse, the digimon weren't even attempting to START as many fights as they used to. They were simply too frightened of him. Sure, there was the occasional sparing match with Gaomon, Falcomon, Agumon, or the Royal Knights… but he could now soundly defeat the first three entirely on his own, and the last rarely had the time.

"Aniki? Are you bored?" asked Agumon, getting in his sunlight. He blinked.

"Yeah, agumon, I guess I am," he said, musing, as he was wont to do more and more often of late. "There's not as much to do as before. Most of the digital world is completely at peace, the Megas that Kurata didn't destroy are so secluded even we can't find them… and it would just be wrong to go pick a fight with someone we didn't even know, just because we could. I almost, ALMOST wish something would happen."

"Do you want to go visit the Capitol? Gaomon's last letter said they'd found a new clue about that Eldoradimon," offered Falcomon.

"Well, digging in the earth was never my thing… but let's do that. We can say hello to Cherrymon along the way." He hopped to his feet and the three friends started off. Today, however, Masaru's almost a wish would be granted. Though it will be, it probably doesn't need to be said that they didn't get very far before a gaping hole in reality sucked them up by surprise.

A great many miles away, near, of all places, the lake where the original Holy City was destroyed, there was a camp called "The Capitol." It was the roving residence of all those surviving who had once called Eldoradimon home. It was currently led by a Sepikmon, as he was the only mon with a limb in all 5 of them divided camps. Well… 4 limbs and a boomerang. He was currently seated with the council and honorary advisors, aka a Pumpkinmon, a Pegasusmon, an Andromon, a Ryudamon and a Pandamon. Gaomon and Lalamon constituted the honorary advisors, along with Kamemon and the Pawnchessmon and lastly… Biyomon. They were all accorded special status as saviors of the digital world.

Phantomon coughed nervously before the council. The Wizardmon, Mummymon, and Silphymon behind him said nothing. "Well, we DID find a chamber under the lake bottom. But, ah… we accidentally flooded it, and now we can't read the inscriptions. We're pretty sure the inscription is intact… but ah… we can't get at it."

"You… you… . The Wizardmon, Mummymon, and Silphymon behind him said nothing. "Well, we DID find a chamber under the lake bottom. But, ah… we accidentally flooded it, and now we can't read the inscriptions. We're pretty sure the inscription is intact… but ah… we can't get at it."

"You… you… YOU… must not lose control, must not lose control… You were very stupid, but as this is only your third big mistake Phantomon… I am willing to allow you to continue, provided you fix it like you did the other two times. And I must say, you did a marvelous job with the, ah… what was it called again?" Sepikmon looked at Gaomon.

"The Depthmon situation. It was very well handled."

"Yes, with convincing the Depthmon to go back to work. Do the three of you have anything to add?" he asked the Mummymon, Wizardmon, and Silphymon standing behind Phantomon. The only reason Phantomon was in charge was because he had this unnatural knack for finding ancient ruins regarding mysteries of the digital world. They were actually quite famous for it.

They shook their heads. Slowly, the council filed out, and Gaomon and Lalamon stayed behind a little with the Pawnchessmon, Kamemon, and Biyomon. There was just one problem. As the two of them turned around to talk to the others, a void in reality swallowed them hole.

Toma was having lunch with Yoshino and the Daimon family when the Portal grabbed him and Yoshino and Ikuto. They never even knew what had them till they hit dirt in the darkening woods. Before them was a gigantic stone temple, ancient beyond measure, crumbling, covered in vines and images and writings. It had a towering roof that led into a massive mountain behind it. The roof with supported by large thick walls with towering pillars in the entrance. It was an extremely intimidating sight.

As the 8 looked around, they realized who they were looking at. Eight faces came alight with joy and maddened glee as they charged into one massive melee of a hug. It devolved momentarily into a fist fight between Toma and Masaru. However, that was resolved with a simultaneous fist to each others faces, and a landing on their asses.

"Masaru!"

"Toma!"

"Agumon!"

"Yoshino!"

"Lalamon!"

"Falcomon!"

"Gaomon!"

"Ikuto!"

Laughter and tears flowed at the unexpected and joyous reunion. It was ruined by an surprisingly low volume "Shhhhhhh" from a young man in white robes. He had a spear at his feet. He was seated with crossed legs at the base of the temple. Just above him was a small digimon that looked like a cross between a wolf and a Malamut. It had icicles hanging from various parts of its fur.

"Who are you?" asked Yoshino.

He smiled. "I brought you here."

Masaru didn't wait for him to say more. It was unclear if he meant to hit him or just grab him. It didn't really matter. Masaru said, quite loudly, "You bastard!" He was quite upset at being forcibly dragged away from the digital world, without asking, and bringing the others along. They all knew none of them had expected to be at this place, or to be reunited in such a way.

Masaru never actually reached the kid, who was in all truth probably about 13. Just as he got close the teen did some kind of hop and used the stone at his back as a place to set his hands. His feet shot out at an extremely high speed and connected with Masaru's face, sending him flying off his feet.

"I do apologize. I don't like being approached violently. There is almost none of that strange notion called "restraint," in the Dark Area. It can sometimes overwhelm heightened emotions and make people go too far." He smiled apologetically, and offered Masaru his hand to help him to his feet, ignoring the other 7 arrivals ready to attack him. Masaru blinked, and then took the proffered hand and climbed to his feet.

"You… are weird. But you have one hell of a kick," said Masaru, rubbing his chin. He spit a little blood onto the ground. He grinned. "I can appreciate that in a guy. But I still owe you a punch, whoever you are."

He nodded, and indicated his left cheek. "Right here." Masaru socked him. The kid hit the ground hard, but he was smiling as he rubbed his cheek. There was a growl above him.

Suddenly everyone remembered he had a digimon with him…

"You had your free shot. Try that again and I leave you frozen solid for the demons to find."

"Then I'll just melt the ice!" shouted Agumon fiercely. He growled back at the digimon.

"Ciclemon, down boy, or no digi-snacks tonight before bed," said the kid.

"But Cody…" whimpered Ciclemon from atop the stone prominence in front of the temple.

"They are guests Ciclemon, and it was only fair. We didn't give them a chance to say no. Now then," he said, turning back to the Dats members while Ciclemon sat down and sighed. "If you'd all be so kind as to step into the Sanctuary of Truth, we can clear off this whole mess, or at least some of it. And best of all, we can do so without being interrupted by pesky Demons." He frowned as they hesitated, and waited.

Toma was also frowning on the inside. "So… what's with all the references to Demons?" He did Not like how thing were going. They were strangers here, again. This didn't fit his calculations and all 20 of his plans didn't completely account for this place. It just seemed so _wrong_ here.

Cody's frown deepened. "The Demons refer to Demon type digimon. They rule this place, the Dark Area, with an iron fist. You should be passingly familiar with some of them. I believe you ran afoul of Belphemon? Can we go inside now? Either follow me in or stay out here and be caught. You should be damned grateful you came out this close to a sanctuary. If you hadn't, we might have had to fight through ARMIES to reach relative safety." He turned and started walking into the Temple.

Masaru opened his mouth, but was cut off by Yoshino. "Let me guess. You trust his fist, or I suppose it would be his foot this time. Come on Toma, Masaru's ability to see souls through fists hasn't actually led us wrong yet, now has it? Let's go Lalamon." Yoshino and Lalamon followed Cody into the Temple. Ikuto, who had been glancing nervously about the whole time, rollowed right behind her.

"Come on Masaru, Toma. This place… I can't trust it. But… well, let's just go." Masaru needed no further incouragement, indeed it was as Yoshino had said.

It ended that Toma was the last human not moving. Ever loyal Gaomon waited with him. "Master?"

"Alright, let's go Gaomon. We can't abandon the others if this guy proves false. But I don't like it. He's too… well I can't say convienent, but he's too nice. It's like he isn't hiding ANYTHING…" Toma muttered to himself as he followed the others in.

Cody led them into the Temple proper. As they crossed the threshold the air shimmered and changed, becoming brighter, and suddenly the temple lit up. Cody turned, bowed, and gestured to the sanctuary. "Welcome to the Sanctuary of Truth. This place provides security in truth. The more honest you are, the safer you are here. The more lies you hold inside, the more harm can come to you within these walls. Those who mean you harm cannot sneak in, we will know they are coming. By the same token here, we are hidden by the truth of this place. Demons abhore the truth. Only a demon who has ceased to lie to himself can enter, and as I said, only those who lie can be harmed."

"Ok… so who are you?" Yoshino was determined to get everything she could out of this guy.

"My name is Momoji "Cody" Suzumi. I detest my first name, so everyone calls me Cody. This is my partner Ciclemon. I am approximately 13 years old. I can't give you an exact age because of the extremely abnormal time flow within the Dark Area. At the moment, I believe we are moving at about half the speed of the world outside, but that is an inexact estimate. At earlier times, we moved even slower. And night and day are hard to track here, since outside the sanctuaries it is always dark."

"So… what the hell is the Dark area and how long have you been here?" Yoshino still wasn't satisfied.

"How did I never meet you? I lived in the digital world most of my life," asked Ikuto, confused.

"Well… This isn't any part of the digital world you could conceivably have ever made it to. It's been sealed off from the rest of the digital world for something like 5 years. Give or take. This is the Dark Area, the digital Equivalent of Hell."

"Hell? Well that would explain the demons. Demons live in hell, don't they?" asked Masaru.

"Yes, they do. And that's… well it isn't…" Toma drifted off again. He still didn't trust this kid, but he couldn't put his finger on it. It was just strange. It wasn't necessarily where they were… or the fact this kid showed out of nowhere. It was his manner, his posture.

"Well this is place of our failure. Myself and 5 companions. At first it was 5 of us, then it was 6 of us, then it was 5 of us… and we failed. We failed the digital world, we failed the digimon, we failed EVERYONE. But… we found a solution. The 7 Great Demon lords…"

"How do you know we ran afoul of Belphemon?" asked Toma. Everyone looked at Cody.

"Oh right. This is where he went when you beat him. He didn't just become an egg, he went to hell. And then… well, about a year ago, or something to that affect, something went wrong. We had erected barriers that kept the fragments of the digital world apart. Those fragments eventually became entire digital worlds unto themselves. About a year ago, the barrier cracked, and then Barbamon, who was leading the Demon Lords that remained in the part of the Dark Area we were trapped in, broke the Barrier, and made holes in it through which we could escape. But he used that power to draw the various pieces of the Dark Area together. Except… they don't FIT."

"Oh… oh dear." All of them assembled new arrivals could just image the horror that would mean, the destruction, the death… "Is that why you brought us? But that still doesn't make any sense. What can we do HERE?"

"Fight. There's a prophecy that says there is a way to stop the rejoining and fix the barrier… well actually it says nothing of the kind. About the barrier. We're just assuming that's what it means… unless having more firepower is supposed to make the difference between having to seal ourselves in again and actually defeating the Demon Lords. Hey, that might be it… but we still have to stop the rejoining. Do you want to hear the prophecy?"

A murmured yes went through the crowd as they listened. Suddenly it clicked for Toma. He knew what gave him that odd feeling. This kid… didn't seem to understand the concept of lies and secrecy. He was telling them EVERYTHING like it was nothing in the world to be talking to 8 complete strangers. He kicks Masaru for attacking him, then lets Masaru have a free shot to even things out. The first thing he says to them when they arrive is "I brought you here." What kind of guy was that. It seemed like Masaru, who was a simple person… but this kid simply didn't give off that feeling of simplicity that Masaru had. Instead, he had that feeling of complexity. Complexity that did not lie or withhold things.

Cody finished the Prophecy. "We knew I was going to be receiving the last 4 mentioned in the prophecy. Since we appear to know why I mean when I saw the pieces don't fit… I suspect you fit the bill. I apologize that the prophecy doesn't seem to mention the partner digimon. I didn't write it though, and I don't know who did."

"Where is it?" asked Toma. "The Prophecy. Where did you find it?"

"Many miles from here, in the central section of the Dark Area, near its edge. In the Sanctuary of Destiny, where the summoning device we used to call you here was. I get to bring you there. But as we talk and learn about each other, we should get some rest before we try that."

"And if we don't want to go?" asked Toma.

"Then… well, good luck getting home? I know I should take responsibility for bringing you here, but the fate of 9 worlds is more important that you, what's your name again?" he suddenly asked, straining memory. "Oh dear, did I never ask?"

"Toma H. Norstein. This is Gaomon." Toma replied, now further annoyed. Meanwhile, Masaru had that strained thinking face Toma remembered so well. Continued with it for several more moments, drawing more and more inquiring or amused looks as time progressed, and then he spoke.

"Let me get this all straight. You want us to help you save the digital and human world, more than one of them, from destruction or conquest by a group of Evil digimon that include Belphemon, the one Shine Greymon Burst Mode defeated. You fought them and lost last time, and you aren't sure how long ago that actually was because time is funky here, but for you it was 5 years? So you call us here without asking, because you found a prophecy saying that if you used some machine that summoned people. You think it would summon the people the prophecy mentioned, and so far we match up? Did I get that right?" The collected Dats members were dumbfounded.

Cody, unfamiliar with the Masaru the others thought they knew, simply nodded cheerfully and said, "That sounds like it is more or less correct. I do apologize for doing this without you permission and for not having a way back, but we didn't have many options. If we had possessed a way to return home or travel to your world to ask, we would have. We used what we had. You know what they say, when all you have is a fist…"

Masaru just nodded back to him. "Right, right, I know what you mean." He stuck out his hand. "Daimon Masaru, Bauncho of the Digital world, DATS member, and big brother, that's me. This here is my subordinate, Agumon. I'm willing to help you put things to rights. We can settle between us when all of this is over." Toma was utterly dumbfounded by the depth of maturity Masaru was displaying. Could living in the digital world for a year really _do_ that to someone? Especially if that someone was Masaru?

Yoshino and Ikuto made their own introductions meanwhile. Cody attempted to show some gentlemanly behavior to Yoshino, for which she was grateful, but he obviously wasn't good around women. Or, Toma mused, maybe it was just _older_, relative to Cody, women. With Ikuto however, he found a more kindred spirit.

"You were raised by digimon? From a baby? _Dang_, that must have been an experience. I was 8 when I came here, and I can tell you, I could barely hack it. It helped and hindered that I still didn't know how to lie back then. But man, I thought it was tuff surviving here for 5 years, even with havens to hide in, partners to fight with you, and friends to hang with. You just had Falcomon… I am awed at your survival. Maybe you can help your friends adjust to this place, if you can adjust fast."

Falcomon and Ikuto shared a knowing smile, and grinned. Like old time, it would be.

At that moment, however, as people were starting to become more comfortable, Cody's wristwatch beeped.


End file.
